Rotary engine.



J GILL. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY l0| 1911.

Patented N0v.21, 1911.

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JOHN GILL, or WAKEFIELD, ENGLAND.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1911.

Application liled May 10, 1911. Serial No. 626,273.

To all whom it may concern:

lBe it known 'that I, JOHN GIEL, a subject of the King of Great Brita-in, residing at Wakefield, in the county of York, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 'in Steam 0r other Fluid Pressure Rotary Engines, and of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to that type of steam or other uid pressure reversible rotary engines in which the stationary cylinder has within it a concentric revoluble drum of such diameter as to leave an annular space between its periphery and the innerperiphery of the cylinder; the said drum nular space; and rotary abutments, equal in number to said longitudinal pistons, pass through said annular space and have recesses which are brought into position, at proper times, to'permit of the passage of said longitudinal piston-bars.

The present invention is particularly characterized by the construction hereafter described which permits of arranging the steam inlet and exhaust ports to and from the annular space within which the pistonbars revolve so that the said ports open out on stationary cylindrical surfaces in line and coaxial with the periphery of the revoluble drum, while the longitudinal piston-bars extendv beyond the ends of the drum by which they are carried and over the said stationary cylindrical surfaces, whereby the pistons themselves, during their travel around the annular chamber, open and close the inlet portsand the exhaust po-rts, and

thereby obviate the opening and closing of the inlet and exhaust ports at a dist-ance.

away from the actual position where the In the known rotary engines having rotors or drums fitted with pistons traveling in annular chambers, and segmental abutments rotating in such annular chambers, it has been necessaryl either to arrange the steam passages in some rota portion or in the end faces of thecylinder end covers. /Vhen the ports have been arranged in a rotary portion, they have sometimes been made in duplicate for the purpose of reversing the engine, and the selection of the sets of ports to be opened has been effected by the adjustment of a ring controlling all of them simultaneouslyy and situated in or communicating with inlet and exhaust chambers. Such known mechations of mechanism Aother than the' pistons,

and the disadvantage resulting therefrom is that the inlet and exhaust ports are opened Y and closed at some distance away from.V the actual position where the work is performed, land waste expansion spaces thereby exist routside the contents 'of the annular chamber but communicating therewith, whereas, ac-

cording to the' present invention which is now to be particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, this 'is obviated.v carries longitudinal piston bars in said anj Figure 1 is atransverse'section of ,a romyinvention. Fig. 2 is a'longitudinal sec tion taken on the line A. B of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a transverse section taken on the line C. D of Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional Lviews showing the relationship of the piston bars to the crescent-shaped valves when working in a forward and backward direction respectively, the portions (a) and (ZJ) in veach vie-w showing the parts in the positions they occupy respectively at the beginning land at the end of a stro-ke.

In the drawings, 1 is a stationary cylindrical casing provided with end covers 2, 3

formed with internally projecting portions i-n the said end covers 2, 3, the drum 4 and :the internal projections 2X, 3X being of such la diameter as to leavev an annular chamber 8 lwithin the cylinder l, in which chamber, are `free to work four longitudinal pist0n-bars 9 fixed to the periphery of the drum 4 at equal distances apart and parallel with theshaft 5.

Within the cylinder 1 and in conjunction lwith each piston-bar 9 is provided a longi- `tudinal crescent-shaped valve 10, which valves 10 are formed with shafts 10* passing through stuffing boxes l1 and which are -geared to the main shaft 5 by spur pinions 12 and a spur wheel 13 so as to cause the said valves 1() to make four revolutions to one of -the shaft 5' to time in with the passing of :the four piston-bars 9, which latter are ltary engine co-nstructed in accordance with 2X, 3X, between which is mounted a drum 4 A* ixed on a central revoluble shaft 5, carried in bearings 6 and stuffingr boxes 7 provided opposite cover 3 is formed a similar recess 16 in communication with an exhaust oroutlet pipe 17 and in the portion 2x of the end cover 2 are formed duplicate sets of inlet ports 18, 18X by way of which steam may be admitted to the annular chamber 8 of the cylinder 1, while in the end cover 3 are pro vided corresponding duplicate sets of outlet ports 19, 19 through which the steam may escape, the ports 18, 19 being in communication with one side of the piston-bars 9 of the drum 4 while the ports 18X, 19X communicate with the other side of the said pistonbars 9.

The admission of steam to the ports 18, 18X is governed by slide valves 20 carried on a revoluble ring 21 situated within the annular recess 14 of the end cover 2, the ring 21 being formed with a segmental rack 21 meshed with a pinion 22 carried on a shaft 23 provided with a hand-wheel 24 by which the said valve 2O may be moved simultaneously over one or the other of the sets of ports 18, 18X, while the outlet ports 19, 19X are provided with similar valves 25 on a ring 26 correspondingly operated through the medium of a rack 26X, pinion 27, shaft 28, and hand-wheel 29 to suit the inlets.

'When the piston-bars 9 of the drum 4 on the shaft 5 are in direct engagement with the crescent-shaped valves 10, the bases of the said bars 9 cover the portways to and from the annular chamber 8 (as shown at Fig. 1), but on rotating the main shaft 5 slightly in a forward direction with the valves 20, 25 operated to admit and exhaust steam, the outlet ports 19X are first uncovered by the bars 9 and then steam is admitted by way of the inlet ports 18 and the fluid pressure thus supplied passes simultaneously into the four sections of the.

annular chamber 8 behind the four piston bars 9, by which rotary motion is imparted to the drum 4 and shaft 5 owing to the four crescent-shaped valves 10 closing the rear of the said chamber sections so as to form abutments (see Fig. 4). As each piston-bar 9 is impelled from one crescent-shaped valve 10 to the next by the admitted steam, each valve 10 is caused by the spur gearing l2, 13 to. make a single revolution to time in with the rotary movement of the drum 4, the said crescent-shaped valves 10 during the impelling movement being situated across the annular chamber 8 so that the exhaust ports 19X remain open until each piston-bar 9 reaches the next crescentshaped valve 10, and thus steam is admitted and exhausted at every quarter revolution of thedrum 4 and its main shaft 5.

In order to reverse the direction of rotation, the valves 20, 25 are operated through the medium of the hand-wheels 24, 29 so as to cover the ports previously open and uncover the ports 18 19 respectively, whereby the admitted steam is caused t0 impinge on the reverse sides of the pistonbars 9 and crescent-shaped valves 10 (see Fig. 5) While the speed of rotation in either direct-ion is governed by the amount of steam admitted by way of the inlet ports 18,18*.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by patent is 1. In a steam or other fluid-pressure reversible rotary engine of the type specified; the combination of a stationary cylinder having end covers formed with internally projecting cylindrical end portions of less diameter than the internal diameter of the cylinder, and provided respectively with duplicate sets of inlet ports in one end portion opening on its periphery and duplicate sets of outlet ports in the other end portion opening on its periphery, one set of ports being for forward and the other set for rearward driving, inlet and exhaust valves controlling the two sets of ports respectively, a revoluble drum located within the cylinder between the cylindrical end portions and being of equal diameter therewith so as to form between their periphery and the wall of the cylinder an annular' chamber extending the full length of the latter, rotary abutments situated in said annular chamber and extending the full length of said chamber, piston bars carried by the drum and being of a length equal to the combined length of said drum and said cylindrical end portions and of a breadth to adapt them to cover and uncover the inlet ports and exhaust ports in said cylindrical end portions at the required times, and means for conducting steam to the inlet ports and for carrying off the exhaust from the outlet ports.

2. In a steam or other fluid-pressure reversible rotary engine of the type specified; the combination of a stationary cylinder having end covers formed with internally projecting cylindrical end portions of less diameter than the internal diameter of the cylinder and provided respectively with a steam chest and an exhaust chamber and with duplicate sets of inlet ports in one end portion opening on its periphery, duplicate sets of outlet ports in the other end portion opening in its periphery, control valves in said steam chest and exhaust chamber respectively, a shaft in the cylinder journaled in said end portions, a drum mounted upon the shaft within the cylinder between said end portions and being of equal diameter therewith so as to form between their periphery and the wall of the cylinder an annular chamber extending the full length of the latter, shafts journaled in said end portions carrying rotary abutment-s situated in the annular chamber and extending the full length thereof, gearing connecting the drum shaft to the shafts carrying the rotary abutments, piston-bars carried by the drum and being of a length equal to the combined length of the drum and the cylindrical end portions and of abreadth adapting them to cover and uncover the inlet ports and exhaust ports in the said cylindrical end portions at the required times, and means for conducting steam to the steam chest and for carrying off the exhaust from the exhaust chamber.

3. In a steam or other fluid-pressure reversible rotary engine of the type specified; the combination of a stationary cylinder having end covers formed with internally projecting cylindrical end portions of less diameter than the internal diameter of the cylinder, and provided respectively with a steam chest and an exhaust chamber and with duplicate sets of inlet ports in oneend portion opening on its periphery and duplicate sets of outlet ports in the other end portion opening on its periphery, control valves in said steam chest and exhaust chamber, respectively, a shaft in the cylinder journaled in said end po-rt-ions, adrum mounted upon the shaft within the cylinder bet-Ween said end portions and being of equal diameter therewith so as to form between their periphery and the wall of the cylinder an annular chamber extending the full lengt-h of the latter, shafts in the cylinder journaled in said end portions carrying rotary abutments situated in the annular chamber and extending the full length thereof, gearing connecting the drum shaft to the shafts carrying the rot-ary abutments, piston-bars carried by the drum and being of a length equal to the combined length of the drum and the cylindrical end portions and of a breadth adapting them to cover and uncover the inlet ports and exhaust ports in the said cylindrical end portions at the required times, means for conducting steam to the steam chest and for carrying off the exhaust from the exhaust chamber, and means for operating said control valves within the steam chest and exhaust chamber respectively, the

construction being such that one set only of the inlet and exhaust ports can be used at one time.

4. In a steam or other fluid pressure reversible rotary engine of the type specified; the combination o-f a stationary cylinder having end covers formedA with internally projecting cylindrical end portions of less diameter than the internal diameter of the cylinder, and provided respectively with a steam chest and an exhaust chamber and with duplicate sets of inlet ports in one end portion opening on its periphery and duplicate sets of outlet ports in the other end portion opening on its periphery, a shaft in the cylinder journaled in said end portions, a drum mounted upon the shaft within the cylinder between the cylindrical end portions and being of equal diameter therewith so as to form between their periphery and the wall of the cylinder an annular chamber extending the full length of the latter, slide valves in the steam chest and exhaust chamber for controlling the inlet and outlet ports, revoluble rings carrying these control valves formed with segmental racks, hand-wheel shafts carrying pinions in mesh with said rac-ks, shafts in the cylinder journaled in said end portions carrying rot-ary abutments situated in the annular chamber and extendingv the full length thereof, gearing connecting the drum shaft to the shafts carrying the rotary abutments, piston-bars carried by the drum and being of a length equal to the combined length of the drum and the cylindrical end portions and of a breadth adapting them to cover and uncover the inlet ports and exhaust ports in the said cylindrical end portions at the required times, and means for conducting steam to thesteam chest and for carrying ofi'l the exhaust from the exhaust chamber.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my h and in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN GILL.

Witnesses:

JOHN Jown'rr, VANGE EWART GALLoWAY.

Copies of this patent may beobtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

